Death sentence for serial killer Rodney Alcala

Gillian Flaccus, Associated Press

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Photo: Michael Goulding, AP

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** CORRECTS TIME OF PHOTO TO AFTER DEATH SENTENCE WAS PRONOUNCED**Serial killer Rodney Alcala sits quietly after hearing the death sentence pronounced by Judge Francisco Briseno in a Santa Ana, Calif. courtroom, March 30, 2010. Alcala has been sentenced to death for killing four women and a girl in the 1970s. less

** CORRECTS TIME OF PHOTO TO AFTER DEATH SENTENCE WAS PRONOUNCED**Serial killer Rodney Alcala sits quietly after hearing the death sentence pronounced by Judge Francisco Briseno in a Santa Ana, Calif. ... more

Photo: Michael Goulding, AP

Death sentence for serial killer Rodney Alcala

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Relatives of victims poured out grief and anger in a packed courtroom Tuesday before a judge sentenced serial killer Rodney Alcala to death in the 1970s murders of four women and a 12-year-old girl.

Some distraught family members and friends addressed Alcala directly, telling him their lives had been torn apart by his crimes.

Choking back tears, some said they had night terrors. Others detailed their fear of strangers or their devastating depression and anxiety.

"For 25 years, I looked over my shoulder, never knowing who or what I was looking for. I never felt safe," said Anne Michelena, sister of victim Georgia Wixted. "I still feel anxious when I walk in a dark house."

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Other relatives begged Alcala to admit to the murders to give family members some peace.

"There's murder and rape, and then there's the unequivocal carnage of a Rodney Alcala-style murder and rape," said Bruce Barcomb, brother of victim Jill Barcomb. "Give up your dead, Rodney: all victims, all states, all occurrences. Own your truth."

Alcala, 66, showed no emotion and kept his head down as families took turns condemning the amateur photographer and UCLA film school graduate. His death sentences will be automatically appealed.

Alcala was convicted last month of five counts of first-degree murder after a bizarre and sometimes surreal trial.

He acted as his own attorney and unveiled a rambling defense that included questioning the mother of one of his victims, playing an Arlo Guthrie ballad and showing a clip from a 1978 episode of the TV show "The Dating Game" in which he was a contestant.

After the verdict, authorities released more than 100 photos of young women and girls found in Alcala's storage locker in hopes of linking him to other unsolved murders around the country.

Authorities are pursuing more than a half-dozen cases in New Hampshire, Washington, California, Arizona and New York, although those investigations are just beginning, prosecutor Matt Murphy said.

Alcala has been sentenced to death twice before in the 1979 murder of young Robin Samsoe, but those verdicts were overturned on appeal. Prosecutors refiled charges in that case and added the four other murder counts against Alcala in 2006 on the strength of DNA samples and other forensic evidence.

Those cases, which had gone unsolved for decades, went on trial for the first time this year.

During trial, prosecutors outlined Alcala's penchant for torturing his victims. One had been raped with a claw hammer, another had her skull smashed in with a 7-inch rock, and one was strangled so fiercely the pressure broke bones. Several of the victims were posed nude in sexual positions after their deaths.

The 12-year-old Samsoe disappeared on June 20, 1979, while riding a friend's bike to ballet class in Huntington Beach (Orange County). Her body, which had been mutilated by wild animals, was found 12 days later in Angeles National Forest.

Alcala was arrested a month later, when his parole agent recognized him from a police sketch and called authorities. He has been in custody ever since.

During the penalty phase, the trial took a bizarre twist when Alcala played Arlo Guthrie's 1967 song "Alice's Restaurant," in which the narrator tries to avoid being drafted for the Vietnam War by trying to persuade a psychiatrist that he's unfit for the military because of his supposed extreme desire to kill.